Service providers provide telephone, cable television, and Internet services, etc., to customer homes via copper wiring. Typically, the wiring extends from a central office to various neighborhood serving area interfaces and then to individual customer homes. Traditionally, circuit based color coding schemes were used to “label” or “tag” the individual wires so that a technician could use the coloring of the wires to identify a wire associated with a service order. More recently, however, digital subscriber line technologies are being provided at the serving area interfaces and original network wire color coding schemes are no longer being followed. In addition, to support newer technologies, original circuit network connections are being cut out and replaced with new feeds coming from adjacent neighborhood serving area interfaces. The wiring environment is further complicated by the usage of two bonded circuit pairs to support a single residential customer, and up to eight bonded circuit pairs to support a single commercial customer. When a service disruption occurs, a technician assigned to investigate the disruption first has to identify the circuit in need of repair. Likewise, when new DSL service is to be supplied to a customer home via an existing bonded circuit pair(s), a field operator may be tasked with identifying the physical wires that correspond to the bonded circuit pair. Unfortunately, the disorganized and sometimes chaotic wiring environment greatly hinders the ability of the technician to make the circuit pair identification, thereby increasing the labor and time required to address a service disruption.
Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts. As used herein, the phrase “in communication,” including variances thereof, encompasses direct communication and/or indirect communication through one or more intermediary components and does not require direct physical (e.g., wired) communication and/or constant communication, but rather additionally includes selective communication at periodic or aperiodic intervals, as well as one-time events.